Goodbye, Jack
by EmelineCarter92
Summary: Janet had left Phil at the alter, leaving him for Jack. 21 years later, Jack and Janet are married. Jack balances a family and running his own bistro, where he spends a lot of time. But Janet knows she and their kids are more important to him. She feels she's known Jack forever. When her worst fear comes true she wonders how she can be strong for their kids and to say goodbye.
1. Goodbye, Jack

**Disclaimer: I do not own Three's Company or 8 Simple rules, or the characters. Almost same concept with supporting characters from 8 Simple Rules. Jack and Janet in the roles of Paul and Cate. **

**This is a what if, Jack and Janet got married and lived above the Bistro for awhile until Jack got a business deal to open up two more restaurants in L.A. and in San Francisco , Janet got her own flower shop and dance studio, and they were pregnant with their first child, Bridget Erin Tripper born in late 1987. They moved into a two bedroom house. Fourteen months later after their first daughter they had another daughter, Kerri, in 1988. Two years later they had a son, Rory. Janet stayed home to raise the three kids with the help of her mother, when Jack was traveling between restaurants, mostly the one in L.A. When he decides to work close to home he is shocked how much his daughters have grown up. Thus starts the plot of 8 Simple Rules. **

** Other Characters-**

**Nick Sharpe- Jack hires Nick as manager to help out at the restaurant when Jack cannot be there. When he met Jack they hit it off and became instant friends. Nick can be overprotective of his children, like Jack, he also thinks boys are after one thing. ****Nick can be a bit clueless at times. (Jack's nickname for him, "Nick not so sharp) He has four daughters and is a single dad. Jack referred to Nick's ex-wife as cute which almost got him in trouble by Janet. **

**Thomas 'Tommy' Mitchell- A waiter at Jack's Bistro. Janet refers to him as Larry 2.0. as he is often up to similar schemes. **

** Kyle Mitchell- The son of Tommy. He dated Bridget, later Kerri. **

**Donny Doyle- Jack was secretly more fond of Donny and didn't mind Bridget dating him that much because he was in Navy College, though he tired to hide the fact by treating him the same he did Kyle. **

**Fred and Maryellen Doyle- Donny's parents and the neighbors across the street. Fred is a little reminiscent of Mr. Furley. The Doyle's are portrayed as overly-friendly. They were always trying to invite the Trippers to things (like barbecue's, church picnics, the Doyle's oldest daughter's wedding) much to the family attempts they could never get out of it. **

* * *

When Janet announced that she was getting married to Phil, Jack had acted like a jealous ex boyfriend. She just thought that it was nothing more. She had denied her feelings for Jack before, convinced herself that she couldn't be more than friends. She consulted Larry about Jack's behavior.

"Jealous? Jack?" Larry says, skeptical. "The poor guy is lovesick."  
"Figures." Janet shakes his head, misunderstanding Larry, because she wasn't really listening.  
"In all my fantasies of you two..."  
"I don't want to know about your fantasies Larry."  
"Yeah, I suppose it is a dangerous place for one to tread."

* * *

Janet couldn't believe that she was getting married. While Terri was helping her get ready, Jack entered the room. He had to talk to her. It had seemed very important. He just wished her luck. She could tell that there was something that he wanted to say to her. Maybe it was for the best that he decided not to.

As she was being walked down the aisle by her father, she couldn't help thinking about what it was Jack had wanted to say. As she walked past the rows, she noticed the strange glances. She wasn't smiling. They must have seen the concern on Janet's face and interpreted it as doubt. She shook herself out of her thoughts, putting a smile on her face. Trying not to let her mind wonder or her smile would falter. _Keep smiling Janet. They'll notice something in wrong._

When the minister said 'if there's anyone who has a reason as to why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your piece."

No one objected.

She looked among her friends, her eyes resting on Jack. He wasn't even looking at her. His gaze to the floor. When he did turn his gaze to her, she felt that same lump in her throat from earlier. Quickly she looked back at Phillip. She couldn't bring herself to marry him.

"I'm sorry Phillip." She runs out of the apartment, leaving Phillip behind.

She sat in his car, crying. Jack opened

She demanded why he didn't say anything.

He told her why he didn't object. He wanted her to be happy. He hadn't said what he had wanted to because he didn't know if she had the same feelings as he did. And he thought it was better off not knowing. Because he couldn't stand the thought of losing her for good.

6 months later, Jack and Janet were married. Jack had to explain to Mr. Furley that he was such an influence on him that made him a ladies man, and had realized he had feelings for Janet.

After Jack and Janet got married, Terri moved to Hawaii to be a nurse there, while Jack and Janet moved in above his Bistro. Mr. Angelino had sold the building to Janet's father.

Making enough money, (Janet had been running dance classes at the studio.) they bought their first house, right around the time Janet found out she was pregnant. In the late fall of 1987, they had a beautiful daughter, Bridget Erin Tripper. One year later Kerri (short for Kerrigan) Morgan Tripper, came along. Two years later, their son Rory Joseph Tripper. The oldest daughter looked both like her mother and father, but had her father's eyes.(and like her father she could sometimes be a klutz and she had the same Tripper charm Jack used to have, when he dated two girls at the same time. Bridget had the same habit with boys.) Kerri looked more like Janet but with red hair and had her mother's eyes but was sensitive as her father. She also kept her feelings hid but in her own way, with sarcasm, where as her father covered it up with his witty humor. Rory on the other hand looked just like his father. He hadn't inherited any features of Janet's. Rory was just a big as a goofball as Jack was.

When the kids were old enough to work, they would help out around the Bistro. The three of them were quite a handful, when they weren't working, especially the girls. They would always have boys over. He very disapproving of Bridget and Kerri dating boys because he claimed boys only want one thing. (He knew because he used to be after one thing.) But he wasn't bothered about Rory that much, which causes Bridget and Kerry to be mad. Nonetheless, he loves his children, and wants them to have happy futures.

One day in the middle of September, Bridget asked to use his car to drive to school, he wouldn't let her because he had decided to open up the Bistro early that morning. The last words she said to him were, "I hate you." He knew that she didn't mean it. She was just being typical Bridget, just what a normal teenager would say.

It started out a normal day at the Bistro. Jack had a lot on his mind. He always did. No one knew how much was going on up there in that head of his. Sometimes when he was alone with his thoughts, he would start to worry. Many people who knew him, wouldn't peg him as a worrier. To them he was the easy going, Jack Tripper. Oh, but he could hide it so well with his natural goofy persona. He wondered if Janet knew how much he worried. If he could, he would worry himself to death with worry. There were three things in his life that he cared about. They were also what he worried about the most. The Bistro meant a lot to him but his wife and kids were the first thing and last thing on his mind from when he got up to when he went to bed. He never worried about himself. But on that day, September 11, 2003 he was thinking about himself and found himself worried. Something in his body seemed to be sending him a message, it said, hey something's wrong.

He tried focusing on setting up, taking down the chairs from the tables, bringing him out of his thoughts temporarily. He tried thinking of something else. His mind wondered to the conversation with Bridget that morning, deciding he'd have a talk to her when he got home. He played the words he'd say to her over in his head but that one thought wouldn't leave him. Something didn't feel right. Jack felt his forehead wondering if he was sick or had a fever. He did feel hot. Maybe he wasn't well, maybe there was something wrong with him. They had been pushing hard at the Bistro for days but not that hard. He began feeling nauseous and tired.

He went upstairs to the little apartment to lie down and take a nap. When he woke up, he still felt tired. He had only been sleeping for half an hour.

Going back down stairs he told Fernando, who suggested that he take a nap.

"I just did that."

"Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Full eight hours." Jack said.

"Maybe the nap wasn't long enough."

Jack shrugged. "I shouldn't be this tired." He opened the door to the kitchen but then paused. "Hey, uh, listen, Felipe..

"Fernando."

"Right. I'm going to finish up straightening the kitchen and close up for the day. You can go ahead and take off ."

"Are you sure, Jeffe?"

"Yeah." Jack went into the kitchen.

Fernando, decided to stick around for a bit, to make sure everything was spotless in the dinning room, ready to go for tomorrow. Plus he found it peculiar that his boss would never get his name wrong. Jack had never mistakenly called him by his father's name before. That's when Fernando heard a crash coming from the kitchen.

The young chef ran through the swinging door in an instant.

* * *

He had difficulty breathing. He began to feel light headed. sharp stabbing pains in his stomach. He went over to the sink, bending over it, he vomited.  
He thought it was food poisoning. But he hadn't really eaten anything all day. Then the pain radiated up his arm, to his chest. He didn't really have to think what was happening to him. He didn't care. His only thoughts were...  
_Janet...the kids...the phone..._  
The light headedness was starting to effect his thinking.  
He had to get an ambulance, now.  
He found that he couldn't move. Either by the fear that gripped him or the numbness beginning in his legs.

Fernando entered the kitchen. "Jefe..." He stopped abrupt when he saw his boss. He was sweating excessivly, his skin looked clammy, his face had a pallor to it.

The young man had never seen his boss in a sign of weakness. He always hid things so well. To see something like this happening to a man who he looked up to, thought of as a father. It did not seem real.

"Call...call an ambulance."

Fernando took his cell phone out of his apron and called 911.

He helped his boss sit down at one of the tables in the dinning room. Then he rushed to flip to sign on the door from open to closed.

* * *

Janet was preparing breakfast for the kids when received that fatal phone call "Yeah, this is Mrs. Tripper." She paused for a moment. "What? Fernando, slow down. I can't understand you."

The young man's voice was panicked . He spoke in a mixture of English and Spanish. Or it just seemed that way because he was talking to fast. Someone else took the phone from Fernando, for she heard a different voice.

"Mrs. Tripper your husband has been taken to Santa Monica hospital. We think he might have had a heart attack. If you could meet us there..."

She didn't even ask who she was speaking to, all she said was "Sure." And hung up.

Just then her children came down the stairs arguing. Janet wasn't paying attention to what it was about.

"Mom." Bridget said in her tattling voice. She said something else, then, the room fell silent. Bridget immediately knew something was wrong. "Mom."

"I...uh...I have to go." Janet grabbed her car keys and her purse, rushing out the door.

"Mom." All three of her children called after her. But she didn't seem to hear them. The only thing on Janet's mind right then was her husband.

* * *

By the time Janet got to the hospital, Jack was being taken into surgery. He was lucid and aware enough to assure Janet that everything will be fine and to say goodbye, in his natural goofy way, "Hasta Lavista Baby."

Almost an hour and a half later the doctor stepped out of the operating room. "I'm sorry to inform you, Mrs. Tripper. You're husband didn't make it. We did everything we could."

"What...what was wrong with him. They said it might have been a heart attack."

"It was his heart." The doctor confirmed.

"Can I see him?" Janet tried holding back her tears.

"Of course you can." The doctor said.

* * *

Minutes later, Bridget entered the waiting room, (having dialed the * 69. She got Fernando's number. He told her that her father was in the hospital. She then called Kyle to give her, Rory, and Kerri a ride.) her sister and brother tagging along. "Mom, where's dad?"

Janet just shook her head.

Bridget swallowed, tears starting in her eyes. She already knew in that instant. Her father was dead.

"What's wrong with dad?" Kerri asked.

"Shut up Kerri." Said Rory.

Janet and Bridget where the only ones silent. Bridget put her arms around her mother, staring over Janet's shoulder, her face passive.

* * *

Kerri went up to her bedroom to talk to Bridget, to get her to come down stairs. Their grandparents, their mother's parents were there.

"He was looking for his keys, I was looking for my backpack." Kerri was going over the events that happened yesterday morning. "Then I remembered I left it upstairs and I never do that. But you were down stairs. How was he feeling? Did he look alright to you? Did he say anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well before he left. I mean you were talking to him. What were you talking about?"

"I don't know."

"How could you not remember?"

"KERRI! Stop. Would you just stop it."

"I'm sorry. I'm, sorry. I'm just trying to figure it all out."

"I'm sorry. God, this so screwd up." She grabs her sister's hand and they go downstairs.

* * *

Later that night,

Bridget lay in her bed, sleepless like the rest of the Tripper household. Her sister was lying beside her. Janet came into the bedroom, (with her pajama's), not believing her eyes. "Awww, that's so sweet. Can I change in here?"

After Janet changed into her pajama's in the girls' bathroom, she came to sit beside them. "I can't imagine going through this without you kids.

"Maybe If I had convinced him to let me take the car to school and then..." Bridget began.

"Honey, don't drive yourself crazy going over and over everything, blaming 's not your fault. It's not any one's fault. No one could control what happened."

If it was anyone's fault, it was God's fault. He took the wrong dad. Bridget couldn't help but think. Why couldn't he have taken the dead beat one's, the one's that didn't pay alimony or beat their kids. Maybe that was her punishment for what she had said to him that morning. To teach her to appreciate her father more. How could she do that now? He was dead.

"God mom, you are so strong." Kerri said. "Oh, no. I fall apart when no one's looking.

"He didn't have to go in yesterday. He was supposed to be here with us." She folded her arms around her pillow. "I hated that stupid restaurant, anyway."

"Bridget, how could you say something like that? You know how much it meant to him. But not as much as you kids meant to him."

"It doesn't matter, now does it?"

"Bridget!"

"Last words I said to dad were I hate you." said Bridget.

"Oh, honey."

"He wouldn't let me borrow the stupid car so I said I hate you. I had my dad and the last words I said to him were I hate you.'

Her mother assured her that her father knew she didn't mean it. "He loved you. No question."

"My last words were an insult to." Kerri said to Bridget. "He was wearing his Michigan sweatshirt with chinos. And I said there weren't enough queer eyes in all of San Fransisco to help him."

"Well we were arguing about his socks. He accused me of hiding them. So the last thing he heard out of me was blah blah blah blah blah...You know what his last words to me were?" Janet asked. 'Hasta la vista, baby!' Such a cornball," she laughed. "You know he would say anything. He didn't care how silly he was, just wanted to make us laugh. I'm really gonna miss that. So somebodies going to take up the cornball slack around here."

"Yeah." Kerri agreed. "I vote Rory. You know what I'm going to miss about dad? Those bogus pancakes he used to make."

"They were so awful."

"He could cook anything except for pancakes. They're just batter and water. How do you mess that up?" Bridget asked.

"If they were so terrible why'd you eat them?" Janet asked Kerri.

"Same reason you did. To make him happy. You hear that dad. Our secret's out."

"I never ate the pancakes." Bridget admitted.

"Come here." Janet hugged her daughters. "I love you girls."

"I love you too." They both said.

* * *

Ok, what we're going to do is get your father's things and get out." Janet said, before they entered the Bistro.

When they were going through the desk in the apartment upstairs, they found themselves going back memory lane. There were a few pictures of Kerri's art work from kindergarten to first grade.

"Oh, nice bunny." Bridget said, picking up one of them.

"It's a giraffe." Kerri said, snatching it away from her. "I was six."

"I can't believe dad kept all this stuff."

"I can't believe he kept this." Janet had in her hand a green napkin with writing on it.

"What's that?" Rory asked.

"It's a poem your father wrote for me on St. Patrick's day. It was out first date. Our real first date."

"Yeah, since a computer matching you up, didn't count." Bridget said sarcastically.

He even kept the pictures Janet had told him to throw out. She looked horrible in those pictures. And he still kept them. He even kept the one she tore up and threw in the garbage. The one where they were wearing sun Barros.

* * *

Later that night Janet's father found Jack's article he was going to submit to the cooking magazine.

The four of them got into the bed. She read the article to them. It was like they were suddenly little children again being read a bedtime story. Except this was a real one.

The article seemed to answer what they all had on their minds. It was as if Jack was there with them. Maybe he was.

Family was more important than work. He was proud of his children and he loved them. Despite them calling him an idiot. He never had called his own father and idiot because he feared him. In Jack's generation a child's relationship with their parents was different. You never expressed your true feelings. But his children did. Over and over and over. And Janet had reassured him, over and over and over that it was a good thing. "So do I wish that my kids feared me? Well, my house would be quitter and I'd spend a lot less time in the bathroom."

Janet recalled to memory, The same bathroom, where Bridget takes nearly 2 and a half hours to get ready to go out, for a date, or to school or just hanging out with her friends. "I got to look like there's somebody to impress, you'll never know if somebody needs to be impressed." She has said once.) Janet continued on reading.

"But no. Because I know when ever they insult me, weather it's a "you're an idiot", "What a geek," or an "I hate you" an "I love you " isn't far behind."


	2. Saying Goodbye

**What happened to the rest of the Three's Company characters?**

**Terri-** moved to Hawaii to be a nurse, she later fell in love and married a local doctor there, Daniel So. They had two children, Jason and Miranda.

**Larry-** is still a car salesman, his mascot is a monkey. Larry never married. Though he did have a child named Peter Dallas.

** Chrissy-** married Jim Foster and had three children. She and Jim later divorced. She then met Frank Lambert who had three children of his on. The two later married.

**Cindy-** moved back to Fresno. Married the Farm hand, William 'Henry' Harrison.

** Mr. Furley**- Ended up marrying Cindy's Aunt Becky.

.**The Ropers**- They eventually became the land lords of the apartment building they were living in until 1997 when Helen died. Mr. Roper died a year later.

**Felipe-** After Jack and Janet were married, he took position as chef at Jack's bistro. When he died in 1999, his son Fernando took over the job.

** Fernando** - Worked at Jack's Bistro from he when was 17 to 21 (Jack's death) He always considered Jack as a second father. Calling him papa Jefe on occasion. (when it was just the two of them.) He used to have a crush on Bridget (he would always turn into such a klutz when ever she was around.) He eventually opened his own restaurant but did not serve Mexican food. It was kind of unorthodox, which almost threatened to close it down (and almost made his family cut ties with him.) But the local teenagers and intrigued tourists protested and the restaurant stayed. He never got over Jack's death, as he lost 'a second father"

** Jack and Janet's children-**

**Bridget** - went to community college but dropped out. She moved to Pasadena, California and is an inspiring actress, using the stage name Penny. She has a part time job as a waitress (As she had experience from working in her father's restaurant) and lives in an apartment across from two theoretical Physicists.

** Kerri** -went to art school and became an artist. Still trying to make it big. He is married to Kyle and they have a 5 year old son named Jack.

**Rory-**is a pediatrician at the same hospital his father died in. He's deciding on weather or not to go back to school and become a doctor. Rory is still affected by his death. It is the only thing holding him back. He is 24 years old, recently his fiancé left him at a party he threw, (inviting his old classmates from third grade.) the reunited classmates get to know each other. He also befriends Kat Warbler, whom he later gets engaged to.

* * *

All of Jack's old friend's (Larry, Terri, Chrissy, Cindy, and Mr. Furley) attended the funeral. Janet and Chrissy resolved a 20 year old feud, (in respect to Jack) that was never talked about in Three's Company. The week before his death Jack called Chrissy and invited her to meet up and have dinner, catch up with old times, (probably an attempt to resolve said feud.) but the date and time was never discussed.


End file.
